Idaho Gay Marriage Facts And Stats

Gay Marriage In Idaho

manplay.com has all the information you need to keep you updated with the most recent and interesting info concerning Idaho gay marriage. Teaching you about the past, present and future of gay marriage, we have all the info you have always wondered. Idaho has a long and complicated history when it comes to same-sex marriage. Things were very hot and cold, but on October 15th 2014, same-sex marriage finally became legal for good. After that date, there hasn’t been a problem since.

Idaho Gay Marriage History

In 1993, after certain States in the United States were interested in legalizing same-sex marriage, Idaho began thinking about the idea, but it wasn’t in a good way. They feared that since other states were trying to pass the bill saying that same-sex marriage was legal, they would have to as well. Out of fear, in 1996, Idaho amended their marriage law saying that marriage was only between a man and a woman. Idaho prohibited any recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriages. The Governor Phil Batt signed right away. This law took effect a few days later. In 2004, the Idaho House of Reps voted to ban same-sex marriage. The vote was 53 to 17. It was quite obvious that the people of Idaho were not for gay marriage at all.

A couple years later in 2006, there was another vote to see if anything had changed. The court wanted to see if there was any chance that same-sex marriage would be legal soon, the senate voted (21 to 14) against having same-sex marriage become legal. 9 days later, another vote was held to see if Idaho wanted same-sex couples to be able to be in a civil partnership/union with their partner. That vote was 26-9 in favor. Apparently it’s alright to be in a civil union, but not a marriage because it isn’t practically the same thing, right?

This same-sex civil union law was found unconstitutional on May 13th, 2014 - that only took 8 years to figure out. In October 2014, Latah County in Idaho issued six marriage licenses to same-sex couples. This brought a lot of attention to Latah, which soon caused 100 more couples to travel over and grab themselves one within 4 days. To this day more than 50% of the Idaho population are against same-sex marriage. Gay marriage became legal on October 15th 2014. After same-sex marriage became legal, there was a lot of feathers being ruffled. Some people didn’t understand why same-sex marriage was not legal, even though the State vote obviously showed that more people were against it than for it. This confused people, but it was told that Obama made it the law that all states had to allow same-sex marriage - no exceptions. When people finally started accepting that this was just the way things were now, and they can’t do anything to change it, they calmed down. There is a lot more acceptance in Idaho than there was just months after the legalization of same-sex marriage. Today, things are getting better, but there is also a lot of room for change.

Idaho Gay Marriage Statistics

In October 2014, when same-sex marriage became legal, under 150 same-sex couples received a marriage license. 40% of the same-sex couples who were married in Idaho ended up moving out of State. 12% of the gay couples who reside in Idaho live outside of Latah County. The rest live within. 70% of the married gay couples in Latah do not have children. The other 30% do. Half of the 30% hired a surrogate, and the other 70% adopted. Before same-sex marriage was legal in Idaho, it was illegal to get married outside the state if you were a gay couple. 13 same-sex couples did so anyway. When same-sex civil partnerships became legal, 4,500 same-sex couples received civil union/partnership during the open period when it was allowed.

The Current Status Of Idaho Gay Marriage

Same-sex marriage has been legal for a couple years in Idaho. Since more than 50% of the population is still against gay marriage, the residents are wondering why gay marriage is even legal, but the gay residents are ecstatic. On the first day same-sex marriage was legalized, hundreds of couples drove to Latah County to get a same-sex marriage license. The reason that so many couples went to Latah is because there are a surprising amount of gay residents. This is a place where you can feel comfortable and loved, like you should. You don’t have to hide the way you feel because 1) mostly all of the gay people who live in Idaho have moved here over the years, and 2) the people who live here who aren’t gay are used to it and have a good relationship with their LGBT community. The government in Idaho is very happy that same-sex marriage is legal, a few members had been waiting a very long time for this law to pass. There are organizations that the state have organized that deal with discrimination and bullying towards same-sex couples. There are nights that the LGBT community put on to cater to the entertainment portion of same-sex couple’s lives. There aren’t many businesses that take care of same-sex weddings, but the ones who do are very passionate and have a lot of customers since there is such a small amount of businesses who cater strictly to gay weddings.

The Future Status Of Idaho Gay Marriage

The future of Idaho gay marriage is pretty steady. There isn’t a good chance that things will get much better anytime soon, but I guess you never know what can happen. The reason why things may not get better sooner than later is because for the last 10 years, (excluding the fact that same-sex marriage became legal) things have been on auto pilot and it doesn’t look as if things are going up. There is a huge gay community in certain parts of the state, which makes it easy to feel like a part of something and not so alone and isolated. Within the next 20 years, trends and beliefs in Idaho will begin turning over, this means that as the older generations are replaced by the younger ones, people will start being more understanding and empathetic.

To find out more about other gay-friendly states like Hawaii, click here!

The following links will help on your search to find out more about Idaho Gay Marriage